The ongoing pandemic has disrupted nearly all graduate medical education specialties. And due to dramatic drops in imaging volumes, radiology residents have been hit particularly hard, with long-term effects likely to come.
In fact, from before the pandemic to late June, trainees’ exam volumes nosedived by almost 63%. And paired with the fewer number of days spent in reading rooms, these young rads are facing immediate educational challenges, experts explained Friday in Academic Radiology.
“As the educational impact of the pandemic became apparent, residency programs across the country worked tirelessly to transition from onsite clinical learning to a virtual educational curriculum in the form of live-streamed didactics and video lecture series,” wrote Neo Poyiadji and colleagues with Henry Ford Health System’s Department of Radiology. “Yet, despite the robust virtual learning content available to trainees, the education provided by hands-on image interpretation cannot be replaced—and as a result, resident education suffered.”
The long-term impact of this pandemic won’t be known for years, but the group set out to assess its short-term ramifications. They assessed how COVID-19 has affected imaging volumes by training year and imaging modality, and what residency programs can do for students.
To do this, the authors gathered all signed diagnostic and procedural reports from Jan. 1 to June 26. Henry Ford has 36 radiology residents and a training program that includes nine residents across four residency years.
Below are a few key takeaways:
- Imaging interpretation volumes fell by 62.8% from pre-pandemic numbers.
- First-year residents were hit hardest, reading 87.3% fewer exams, while second-year trainees saw their interpretation volumes fall by 64.3%. Third- and fourth-year residents were less impacted, as volumes fell 26.1% and 43.6%, respectively.
- Residents saw the steepest declines in mammography, MRI, and non-PET/CT nuclear medicine imaging, dropping 92%, 73.2%, and 73%, respectively. PET/CT, ultrasound, and radiography—often considered more time-sensitive, the authors noted—were less affected.
- In the middle of the pandemic, 478 resident days were reassigned outside of the radiology reading room, equating to a mean of 14.5 days per trainee.
The authors said the declines in breast imaging and nuclear medicine are “particularly concerning,” especially for senior residents who must meet minimum graduation requirements. Program directors need to closely monitor such requirements, they said, to minimize risks.
Additionally, organizations like the Association of University Radiologists launched a core curriculum series to promote distance learning, while the Association of Program Directors in Radiology has started virtual noontime conferences that residents should consider.
At the Detroit-based institution, residents did return to pre-pandemic volumes during the 25th week of the study, but Poyiadji et al. warned that training programs must be ready for challenges moving forward.
“The COVID-19 pandemic caused a marked decrease in radiology resident imaging interpretation volume and has had a tremendous impact on resident education,” the authors concluded. “As program directors continue to adapt to the educational challenges brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic, knowledge of the differential effect on residents at various stages of training will help program directors and residency programs plan for the future.”
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.